Hopper
by Ciysyn
Summary: Follow Marco on his quest in Hekapoo's Dimensions, filled with magic, swords, and one thousand annoying demon ladies.
1. Prologue: Clairvoyance

**Hey there. This is my first story so it might be like real bad, but if you could tell me why its real bad I'd appreciate it.  
(The prologue is really short, other chapters should be around 1000 words.)**

 **Enjoy?**

* * *

Clairvoyance does not exist. In a multiverse of near infinite possibility, the only must have on the dimensional shopping list is time. Each dimension might have completely different natural laws from the next but every single one flows with the river of time, it is both what powers the multiverse and what guides it. The thought that a being could read the steam of time like a hearty novel is not only paradoxical, but entirely ridiculous. So, clairvoyance does not exist.

But Marco Diaz sure wished that it did.

But then again Marco was sure that if he knew his surprise quest would steal 16 years of his life, he probably would have gone through with it anyway.


	2. An Unassuming Hole in Space-time

Marco Diaz had just outsmarted a demon.

The 14-year-old was positively giddy with himself. So giddy to the point where he had to hold back his laughter in fear of his master plan being foiled.

Marco was hung off the edge of a floating field in some dimension or another, preparing to leap up to the field's edge and win this hugely unfair game he'd caught himself in.

Or at least that's what the adolescent pictured in his uncharacteristic burst of over-confidence.

When the demon-forger (and self-proclaimed sass-queen) known as Hekapoo came closer to the ledge to make sure she hadn't killed the boy already, the human, in a graceful leap, shot up to her and gently blew out the candle-flame floating between her spiked horns with a cocky grin stretched across his face.

"HAH!" he shouted, unable to hold in his pride. He looked her in the eyes and relished the shocked look he found frozen there. His victory however, turned to ash along with Hekapoo, as she dissolved and blew away with the wind. Marco's cocky grin pulled back into a confused gape, which in turn morphed into grimace.

"She didn't have the scissors!" Hekapoo's voice echoed in his skull. "And you're going to have to blow out a whole lot more flames to get them!"

For about any other human, having voices rebounding inside your head might be cause for concern, but Marco Diaz was a clear exception. Crazy inter-dimensional antics were almost daily for him.

He hefted himself up to the ledge and sighed. before him was a field of demons. All clad in yellow dresses, all with massive forests of deep red hair on their heads, crowned by a tiny flame, all of them Hekapoo.

Only one of them was laughing though.

"Looking for these, dumb-dumb?" she snickered through a nasty grin.

Marco groaned, which Hekapoo clearly took great pleasure in. He pushed his way through the sea of candles, getting slapped on the back of the head as he walked, burning him each strike.

"Ouch! You're burning me a bald spot!" He patted his roasted scalp, in a futile attempt to de-burn his hair. 'This better grow back' He thought 'Jackie probably isn't a fan of bald guys' A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth at the thought of Jackie, his new girlfriend.

It felt kind of weird even thinking those words.

The smile was washed away as he approached the center of the deep red mass. Where the real Hekapoo was cutting herself a lovely collection of portals with Star's scissors. Before Marco could react, the sea of candles rushed to the portals, thousands of clones and just one demon-god disappearing to who-knows where before his eyes.

Within a matter of seconds, he stood alone.

"I don't have time for this!" Marco screamed to nothing, in a frankly ridiculous attempt at reasoning with the demon.

"It may take days, months, even lifetimes." Came the unexpected response, filling his skull in echoed tones, sending a shiver down his spine. "I don't think you have the goods to do it."

Marco could hear the nasty grin in her voice.

"Go home to your stinky dirt rock, little boy"

It was clear to the teen that the forger didn't think he could earn those scissors, she thought she could break him, force him to give up and return to his life a failure. But Marco Diaz, despite being a few millennia less wise than the demon, knew better. He glanced at the dull blue portal that had opened behind him, and mustered the courage he needed to take the first step on the no-doubt grueling journey ahead of him.

"I don't care how long it takes-" Marco's face had formed a determined scowl, trying to mask the uncertainty inside him. "I'm getting those scissors." He finished, leaping into an orange portal, silently hoping he made a wise choice.

* * *

Despite not being there, Hekapoo held a certain level of omnipotence in her 'domain'. she could see anything she wanted too. Right now, she wanted to see a rather headstrong young human in a red hoodie.

To say that Hekapoo was surprised at Marco's willpower might be an overstatement, but she certainly didn't expect the scrawny human to take up the reigns and play her game. But at the end of the day, this is really just entertainment for her – and Marco's choice to earn his scissors was to her; an interesting plot development.


	3. A Rude Awakening

Marco really couldn't be sure where he was. the only clues to his location were the cold that penetrated his sleeping frame and chilled his bones; as well as the hard, uneven surface he was strewn upon. The hazy thoughts in his head stirred begrudgingly in their tired haze, trying to make sense of his situation. Of course if he would just wake up he probably wouldn't need to rely on his subconscious, but Marco was finding this task a little difficult. With great effort, he pushed up through his subconscious and pulled open his tired eyes.

It was now, that Marco's consciousness felt the cold.

Its icy torrents swam through his body relentlessly, pushing through him with awesome force. Marco was sure his blood was turning into crimson ice. He forced himself to his feet, his arms and legs were numb, his mouth was painfully dry, and his eyelids had taken on similar properties to sandpaper. Marco had certainly felt better.

Pushing through the pain, his logical mind took over as he scanned his dark surroundings. On all sides were jagged grey rocks that seemed to aim their sharpest features toward his unwanted presence. Marco's gaze moved away from the hazards and drifted to a bright white light - his only escape route. Not seeing a better action to take, he clambered towards the welcoming sunlight.

The sharp stones that hungrily tore at his canvas shoes made the teen realize how lucky he was to wake up on a mostly flat surface, even if his spontaneous sleeping arrangement was still wreaking havoc on his back.

He pushed closer to the cave's entrance, trying his hardest to ignore the dead air that froze his core. An intense pain was pulsing through his body, his nerves screeched at his own movements. He squeezed his eyes shut in a semi-successful attempt to will the pain away and focused on putting each step in front of the other. The sharp walls scraped his arms and tore his hoodie. He hardly felt it compared to the cold. Slowly, Marco felt his joints warm up with the familiar movement. Little by little, the pain in his elbows and knees faded, soon enough he was moving at a decent pace. After a particularly ambitious stride, an unfamiliar warmth lazily washed its way up from his frozen toes and through to his ankle. Marco breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the fantastic warmth flowed up his skin and ebbed into his bones. He jumped away from the alien heat when his logical brain caught back up with him.

"Gah!" the exclamation left his gritty mouth as not much more than an energetic wheeze. The sudden contact alerted his body of the lack of water in his mouth and throat . He doubled over coughing and spluttering, his body trying desperately to soothe his aching lungs and flaky throat. He felt like a fish out of water, convulsing desperately against his will. After an eternity of esophagus-based torture, his spasms slowed over time until he finally had control of his lungs again.

As much as Marco would hate to admit it, the severe reaction he had was effective in returning moisture to his system. His throat had a new comforting wetness to it and the tears that tore from his eyes soothed his coarse eyelids.

As he sat slumped over, recovering, an orange glow caught the corner of his eye. Curious, he turned to inspect the anomaly. On the floor of the cave a line of fiery runes were embedded into a rare smooth section of cave floor. He recalled the warmth on his foot that started his fit , and as he inched closer to the molten impressions he once again felt the heat radiating from them.

Marco crawled to the runes and pressed his frozen body against them. Finally, the dry constant pain in his bones was let go and replaced with a homely warmth. The teen let out a satisfied groan as he took in as much warmth as possible.

Along with his body, his mind came off the hypothermia induced adrenaline rush and his proper thought began to return. Along with logic came recollection, recollection of Hekapoo and his trial to be specific. Marco looked down at the runes with new recognition in his eyes, 'I've seen these before, on… star's – or Hekapoo's? - scissors, I think.' he thought to himself, not really sure what to do with this deduction. He sat up and scanned the cave once again, this time with the combined light of the entrance and Hekapoo's message. He examined the walls more closely and poked around while he warmed up. Not for any real reason, the mental stimulation just made him feel less useless. His efforts were not completely unrewarded however. He came across black scorch marks on the uneven ground, spanning for most of the cave. 'Must be Hekapoo's tracks…' he concluded, 'not many others have burning hot limbs', he subconsciously rubbed the bald spot on the back of his head. 'Damm, she was here' this knowledge was not in the least bit satisfying to Marco.

He sat in the warmth for as long as he could, maybe 10 or 20 minutes; there was no way to be sure, his watch had stopped. The bright glow of the runes had died into embers, the cold slowly stealing their comforting heat. Marco bundled up as much as possible; Flipping up his hood and stuffing his arms into the pockets on his stomach, and with extreme hesitation, he jogged out into the pure white snow.

What met the humans eyes outside the depressing hole was breathtaking. Marco stepped onto a small, snowy ledge on a gargantuan mountain. Spread below him massive dense forest populated with other snow-capped mountains that stretched out of the ground with some kind of vigor. The picturesque scene was almost Earth-like, but as Marco tipped his gaze up to the sky, he found a lack of one. In place of Earth's familiar baby blue shell was another forest, with its own unique mountains, streams and even distant villages poking out from under the foliage above him. The horizon line was nonexistent, replaced with the blue of two parallel oceans that seem to stretch on forever.

Marco stared at the sight in a trance. Even with his extensive experience (for a human) in dimension hopping, he had never witnessed anything so wildly different to Earth. The Gaian Sky was beautiful and exotic but it struck fear into Marco. The earthen roof was foreboding, it clashed with his understanding of what was and wasn't possible. It made him feel huge and microscopic at the same time. He snapped out of his amazement when he began to lose feeling in his toes once again, he blocked the sight out of his mind and tried to focus on his next step.

'OK, OK, OK…' he racked his brain for useful information, but his only experience in survival was his grade 8 camping trip. 'Uh, it's shelter first, right?' He figured that even if he was wrong, shelter was as good as any place to start.

He spotted a half-buried cobblestone trail leading down the mountain, only a few uneven stones protruding from the pure snow. Marco began jogging down the stones, ignoring his numbing toes, 'Maybe I can find another cave? Or a tree or something, I don't know if there are any thi- … Oh.' Marco's train of thought derailed when he came face to face with tiny stone cabin with a bellowing smokestack.

'That will do'

* * *

 **Hekapoo's** **JOURNAL** (It's not a diary, OK?)

 **Entry no. 1**

Today was stupid boring.

I messed with this kid to have fun, not to play nanny all day. I mean, I didn't think the portal to my realm would make the kid pass out! Ugh, humans are the worst. Nothing is more boring than watching someone transform slowly into a popsicle. I had no choice but to drag him from the sweet battleground I put at the top of some mountain, and shove his frozen ass in a cave. A CAVE! I left him some less-than-kind words in some runes though; if I have to carry the kid around I'm not going to be nice about it. When he woke up it took him a full forty minutes just to leave the cave. HONESTLY. At least he's doing stuff now, I suppose. This should spice up pretty soon-ohhhh ... he's … HE'S TAKING IN THE VIEW. HE IS STARING AT THE SCENERY. No respect. No respect at all.


End file.
